Today is my stop on the book tour for Jasmine Zumideh Needs a Win hosted by TBR and Beyond Tours. I’ve said this many times, but I love learning more about the authors behind the books, so I was excited to do an interview for this tour. Susan Azim Boyer was kind of enough to take time to answer my questions, so keep on reading for that and more about this book.
Jasmine Zumideh Needs a Win by Susan Azim Boyer
Genre: Young Adult Historical Fiction
Publishing Date: November 1, 2022
Most Anticipated YA by Buzzfeed
A fresh spin on the cult-classic Election meets Darius the Great Is Not Okay in Jasmine Zumideh Needs a Win when an international incident crashes into a high school election, and Jasmine is caught between doing the right thing and chasing her dream.
It’s 1979, and Jasmine Zumideh is ready to get the heck out of her stale, Southern California suburb and into her dream school, NYU, where she’ll major in journalism and cover New York City’s exploding music scene.
There’s just one teeny problem: Due to a deadline snafu, she maaaaaaybe said she was Senior Class President-Elect on her application—before the election takes place. But honestly, she’s running against Gerald Thomas, a rigid rule-follower whose platform includes reinstating a dress code—there’s no way she can lose. And she better not, or she’ll never get into NYU.
But then, a real-life international incident turns the election upside down. Iran suddenly dominates the nightly news, and her opponent seizes the opportunity to stir up anti-Iranian hysteria at school and turn the electorate against her. Her brother, Ali, is no help. He’s become an outspoken advocate for Iran just as she’s trying to downplay her heritage.
Now, as the white lie she told snowballs into an avalanche, Jasmine is stuck between claiming her heritage or hiding it, standing by her outspoken brother or turning her back on him, winning the election or abandoning her dreams for good.
Told with biting insight and fierce humor, Susan Azim Boyer’s Jasmine Zumideh Needs a Win is a fresh, unforgettable story of one Iranian-American young woman’s experience navigating her identity, friendship, family, her future, and a budding romance, all set against life-changing historical events with present-day relevance.
Content Warning: Racial microaggressions
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Author Interview
What inspired you to write Jasmine Zumideh Needs a Win?
Growing up, I never encountered Iranian American heroines in fiction – or really, anywhere in books, TV, or film! Iran has been “the bad guy” for over forty years now, and I wanted to show what that kind of internalized shame looks like.
What has been your favorite part of your publishing journey so far?
Meeting my fellow 2022 debut authors has been the absolute best part of the publishing journey! And hearing from readers who love the book!
If you were a character in Jasmine Zumideh Needs a Win, what kind of character would you be?
I drew a lot on my own personal experience for this, so probably Jasmine!
What is your favorite quote from Jasmine Zumideh Needs a Win?
Jasmine tells a little, white lie that snowballs into an avalanche, and eventually, everything catches up to her. This is that moment:
Between the dirty tricks and the cover-ups and the betrayal, I keep saying this is not me, I’m not like this. But I am. This is the person I’ve become in order to be the person I wanted to be. The question is, how do I get the old me back?
What do you hope readers take away after reading this book?
I hope, ultimately, that readers can empathize with Jasmine even as she makes a cascading series of terrible decisions! I hope they get a sense of what it feels like to be part of a culture that’s not only marginalized but demonized by the media, and I hope that have a little better understanding of Iranian people.
Could you give us 5 random facts about Jasmine Zumideh Needs a Win (think the story, writing, publishing, anything that comes to mind)?
. Coincidentally, I was querying this book about a bananas election during the 2020 election!
. The original title was called Poser, which is an 80s slang term for a faker.
. I took out a lot of references to brands and pop culture – it was too much!
. I originally wanted to be a music journalist like Jasmine!
. Before I became a published author, I did know about bookstagram!
Tour Schedule
If this interview has you curious about Jasmine Zumideh needs a win and you want to know more, click here for the full schedule. There are many amazing bloggers and bookstagrammers participating on this tour.
About the Author
After obtaining a Certificate in Screenwriting from UCLA in the early aughts, I was accepted to the Sundance Producers Conference and went on to write and direct the independent feature, All You Need, starring two-time Academy Award nominee, Shirley Knight, which played on the festival circuit. After several “it’s my breakthrough!/oh no, it’s not my breakthrough” moments, I began writing young adult fiction featuring Iranian American heroines (I never encountered growing up), who make messy, complicated choices that rapidly snowball into avalanches. Jasmine Zumideh Needs a Win is my young adult fiction debut. I was born in Nebraska, grew up in Los Angeles and lived in San Francisco for two years before spending the next fifteen in Sonoma County before moving to the Palm Springs/Palm Desert area with my husband, Wayne, and my Pug mix, Teddy. Our son, Alec, lives in New York.
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Jasmine Zumideh sounds like a great book and I really want to read it. I don’t read much historical fiction, but this has to change!
